Abu Dhabi FP3: Hamilton leads Mercedes 1-2

Lewis Hamilton topped the final practise session of the 2017 F1 Season ahead of teammate Valtteri Bottas with the Ferrari’s of Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel finishing third and fourth with Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen finishing fifth and sixth.

Fernando Alonso was ‘the best of the rest’ ahead of teammate Vandoorne with Carlos Sainz and Sergio Perez rounding out the top ten. Felipe Massa just missed out on a top ten slot in his final practise session in F1 ahead of Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg who finished twelfth.

Force India’s Esteban Ocon lined up 13th ahead of the Haas drivers of Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean, just in front of Pascal Wehrlein, who looksset to be in his final F1 race for the foreseeable future. Lance Stroll lined up in 17th ahead of Pierre Gasly and Marcus Ericsson with Brendon Hartley rounding out the field. The Kiwi will also take apenalty going into the race for the fourth consecutive race running, meaning he has yet to start a race without a grid penalty.

The session saw multiple off track excursions from plenty of drivers including Brendon Hartley, Fernando Alonso and Romain Grosjean. The most dramatic off came from Valtteri Bottas who almost collided with the wall after clipping the inside of the final corner and losing the rear of the car. During the session there was also an unusual on track excursion midway through the session as a parasol found it way onto the apex of turn eight to the amusement of Kevin Magnussen.